Fluid ejection devices, such as those based on piezo-electric or thermal technologies, typically have a firing element which activates in response to a firing signal to emit a small droplet of fluid from a firing chamber through a nozzle. The firing elements, firing chambers and nozzles may be constructed as a die using various photo-etching (“photolithography”) techniques, such as those used to construct integrated circuits.
The firing signals are typically received from a controller which is electrically coupled to the firing elements by electrical conductors, often including flexible leads which are coupled to the die. Earlier systems of routing and protecting these leads over a side edge of the die resulted in the flexible leads projecting well above the exit surface of the nozzles, disadvantageously increasing the distance from the nozzle to the target surface which received the fluid droplets.
This increased nozzle-to-target distance decreases the trajectory accuracy, so the droplets are less likely to land where intended. If the fluid ejection device is used for depositing drops of ink onto a medium to print an image, the quality of the resulting printed image can be degraded as the trajectory accuracy is decreased. For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.